Tent.



No. 806,802. PATENTED DEC. 12, 1905. H. L. GULLINE.

TENT.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 20, 1904.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

TENT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 12, 1905.

Application filed May 20, 1904. Serial No. 208,932.

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HENRY LAWRENCE GUL- LINE, of the town of Granby, in the Province of Quebec, Dominion of Canada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tents; and 1 do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

My invention has for its object to provide a tent with a minimum number of guy-ropes and of minimum weight, to provide a folding tent adapted to carry its frames and guyropes attached to the fabric portion at all times, at the same time to provide means for rapidly detaching said frames and guy-ropes from the fabric portion at any time it may be found desirable to separate them, to furnish the most convenient and most rapidly operated means of pegging the tent, to supply a tent which can be pitched and struck quicker, and be more compact when folded up with frames and guy-ropes attached than has been possible hitherto, and, finally, to produce a tent so constructed that the slackening of a single guy-rope suffices to uniformly release the tension caused by the shrinkage of the tent fabric during rainy or damp weather.

The invention may be said, briefly, to consist of a pair of end frames adapted to support the flexible covering or tent proper and a compensating guy adapted to exert a tension upon the top and sides of the tent from a common center of tension which automatically adjusts to compensate an uneven pull should such be exerted upon either of the said points.

The invention further consists of particular means for pivotally connecting the frame members to one another and localizing same relatively to one another, and also further consists of hooks on the tent and rings on the tent-pegs for the purpose of pegging the tent to the ground.

An additional feature of my invention consists of a tent-covering adapted to constitute either a triangular or a wall tent.

For full comprehension, however, of my invention reference must be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which reference characters indicate the same parts, and wherein Figure 1 is a perspective view of a tent constructed according to my invention; Fig. 2, a longitudinal sectional view of one end thereof; Fig. 3, a transverse vertical sectionalview taken on line A A, Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view of one of the frame members and illustrating particularly the means for pivotally connecting the sliding clamp thereto; Fig. 5, a side elevation of the joint whereby the vertical and diagonal memhere are pivotally connected together, and Fig. 6 is a detail view of one of the end frames folded up.

The frame of my improved tent consists of a pair of bars 5 b, whether solid ortubular, connected together at their upper ends by an improved hinge-joint, to be presently described, and pivotally connected at their lower ends to a pair of vertical standards 0 0. The last-mentioned pivotal connection consists of a bolt (Z, having a perforated head 0 at one end and its opposite end provided with a collar f and a washer f, rigidly secured upon such bolt and adapted to retain the same in a pair of eyes in the adjoining ends of the members of the frame which it is intended to connect, while the upper pivotal connection consists of a web 9, having a boss it near its center, such boss having an eye It vertically disposed, and a pair of eyes 2' are located one at each end, while a pair of flanges k, arranged diagonally one at each side of the central eye or perforation, are cast in one with the web. The frame members 6 are pivotally connected by. bolts, rivets, or otherwise, as desired, a short distance from their ends to the eyes i, and the end portions projecting beyond the pivotal points constitute stops m, which bear upon the diagonal flanges 7a and cause the said members when spread apart to their full limit to assume the required position. A pair of shoulders or stops n are formed on the frame members I), and a resilient clamping sleeve 0, slidable upon each of said members, has a brace pivotally connected at one end thereto and at its opposite end to the vertical frame members, the function of such pivotal slidable braces being to cause the vertical members 0 c and.

bolts (Z at the upper end of one of the vertical members, is adapted to take over the collar f on the corresponding end of the bolt d at the upper end of the other vertical mem her and serves to lock the members of this frame together when folded up for storage or transportation. tical members have a pair of' rearwardly and forwardly extending flanges rigidly secured thereon and located a short distance above the lower ends of such vertical members, while sulchdlower ends are preferably slightly dimin- 1s e A pair of frames such as that just described are utilized and are adapted to support opposite ends of the tent.

The flexible covering of the tent is of usual construction, excepting that the portions thereof coinciding with the top hinges and the two side hinges are provided with eyelets and the top eyelet at each end is covered by an overhanging cap q to serve the double purpose of shielding the eyelet and the usual ventilating-opening atthis pointfrom the weather, while the lower edge of the tent is provided with a series of hooks adapted to be engaged by a series of rings 8, carried by a series of tent-pegs 2., adapted to be driven into the ground, such rings being disposed with their axes at right angles to the length of the pegs and such rings being secured in'place by a band .9 encircling each peg and passing through the ringcarried thereby, while the The lower ends of the verexerted upon the rope 7 when it is tightened, and any other strain to which either of these ropes is subjected is distributed in a like manner.

To pitch my improved tent, in the first instance it is only necessary to insert the frames in the opposite ends of the covering with the eyes it and e 0, Figs. 2 and 5, projecting through the ends thereof. The spring-hooks are then snapped upon such eyes, and the tent is ready to be raised. The end pegs are then driven the required distance apart, the tent raised, the ends of the vertical members of the frames pushed into the ground until their flanges rest thereon, and when the sliding sleeves reach the stops the clamping-nuts are tightened and the sliding loops 5 slipped over the heads of the end pegs, when upon the sliding loops being tightened and the pegrings snapped into the hooks on the tent and the pegs driven into the ground the tent is ready for use. After the frames have been once inserted into the flexible covering the tent can be pitched or struck or folded for transportation without removing said frames.

It is obvious that tents constructed according to my invention have the least possible ring is embedded in the body of the peg, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. This covering is preferably of suflicient length to be either spread out, as at 25, to form a triangular tent or folded, as at 26, and having its lower edge spread preferably upon the ground and constituting a partial flooring, as at 27. A second series of hooks 28 are carried by the covering for the purpose of attaching the same to the tent-pegs, which will be moved for the purpose.

My improved guy-ropes, which are the same at each end of the tent, consist of a main rope 2, having, preferably, a spring snap-hook 3 at one end, adapted to engage in the central eye in the web of the upper hinge, said eye projecting through the eyelet in the flexible cover nearthe ventilating-opening, while the opposite end thereof is formed with a sliding loop 5, adapted to take over a tent-peg 6, while a second length ofrope 7 is connected, preferably, by a spring snap-hook 8 at one end to one of the eyes 6, while the opposite end of this rope is formed with a sliding loop 9, carrying, preferably, a spring snap-hook 10, adapted to be hooked into other of such eyes 6. These two ropes are connected together by a compensating device consisting of a pair of sheaves 11 and 12, disposed at right angles to one another and carried by a frame 14. This compensating device is adapted to slide horizontally along the rope 7 and diagonally along the rope 2, thereby distributing the pull exerted upon the rope 2 when it is tightened to the three points of the tent to which the end of this rope and the ends of rope 7 are connected, and also in a like manner distributing the pull number of grounded guy-ropes and the tent can-be slackened or tightened as atmospheric changes may require by simply slackening or tightening the sliding loop of one of the grounded guys.

What I claim is as follows:

1. A tent comprising a pair of knockdown supporting-frames each having a rigid eye, a fabric covering adapted to receive and be supported by the frames at each end and having eyelets to allow the eyes of the frames to project therethrough, and guy-ropes adapted to be fastened to the rigid eyes, substantially as described and for the purpose set forth.

2. A tent comprising a pair of knockdown supporting-frames each having a rigid eye near its top and a pair of rigid eyes one located at each side thereof, a fabric covering adapted to receive and be supported by the said frames and having at each end of the top, an eyelet to allow the top eyes of said frames to project therethrough, and having a pair of eyelets one near each side to allow the side eyes of said frames to project therethrough, substantially as described and for the purpose set forth.

3. A tent comprising a pair of supportingframes each frame consisting of a pair of diagonal members pivotally connected at their upper ends to opposite ends of a Web having a pair of diagonal flanges for limiting the movement of the members from one another when spread apart and a pair of vertical members pivotally connected at their upper ends to the lower ends of the diagonal members; a flexible covering; such frames being separate from and independent of one another and located one at each end of such flexible covering and retained thereby against displacement away from one another; and guy ropes for drawing said frames from one another substantially as described and for the purpose of tightening and bracing the tent.

4. A tent comprising a pair of knockdown supporting-frames each having a rigid eye near its top and a pair of rigid eyes one located at each side thereof, a fabric covering adapted to receive and be supported by the said frames and having at each end of the top, an eyelet to allow the top eyes of said frames to project therethrough, and having a pair of eyelets one near each side to allow the side eyes of said frames to project therethrough, a pair of main guy-ropes having snap-hooks at one end and sliding loops at their other ends, such snap-hooks being adapted to be fastened upon the said top eye, a pair of horizontal guy-ropes each having a sliding. loop at one end and a pair of snap-hooks one carried by such sliding loop and the other by the opposite end of such horizontal guy-rope, said last-mentioned hooks being adapted to be fastened upon the said pair of side eyes, a pair of brackets, and a pair of rollers disposed at right angles to one another and carried by each of the said brackets, one roller of each of said pair of rollers being adapted to have one of the said guy-ropes run thereunder and the other roller of each pair being adapted to have one of the horizonal guy-ropes run thereover, substantially as described and for the purpose set forth.

5. A tent-supporting frame consisting of a pair of diagonal members, means effecting a hinged connection between the upper ends of said members, a pair of vertical members pivotally connected at one end to the opposite ends of said diagonal members, and a pair of rigid braces each pivotally connected at one end to one of the vertical members between the ends of the latter, a sleeve slidably mounted upon each of said diagonal members and having the opposite ends of the said rigid parts pivotally connected thereto, means for clamping said sleeve rigidly in any position to which it may be moved along said diagonal member, and each of said diagonal members having a shoulder formed rigidly thereon between the said slidable sleeve and the end thereof which is pivotally connected to the vertical membensubstantially as described and for the purpose set forth.

6. A tent-supporting frame consisting of a pair of diagonal members, means effecting a hinged connection between the upper ends of said members,-a pair of vertical members pivotally connected at one end to the opposite ends of said diagonal members, and a pair of rigid braces each pivotally connected at one end to one of the vertical members between the ends of the latter, a sleeve slidably mounted upon each of said diagonal members and having the opposite ends of the said rigid parts pivotally connected thereto, and each of said diagonal members having a shoulder formed rigidly thereon between the said slidable sleeve and the 'end thereof which is pivotally connected to the vertical member, substantially as described and for the purpose set tened to the ground.

8. The combination with a wall-tent-sup porting frame, of a flexible covering supported by said frame and comprising a middle portion conforming to the area defined by the roof members of the frame, a pair of wall portions one at each side of and adjoining the middle portion; a series of fastening devices carried by the lower edges of such wall portions, a pair of wall-extension portions adjoining the wall portions and a pair of end portions; and a series of fastening devices carried by the lower edges of such wall-extension portions.

In testimony whereof I have aflixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HENRY LAWRENCE GULLINE.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM P. MoFEA'r, FRED J. SEARS. 

